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USF professor Al-Arian arrested at his home
FBI officials also take 3 in Chicago into custody under sealed indictment.
By GRAHAM BRINK, Times staff writer
Published Online, Feb. 23, 2003
TAMPA -- Controversial University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian
was arrested at his Temple Terrace home and taken into federal custody
early this morning. Al-Arian was handcuffed as agents led him through the
front
door of the FBI building in downtown Tampa.
"It's all about politics," he said to reporters. "It's all about politics." Also arrested were Sameeh Hammoudeh, 42, Hatim Naji Fariz of Spring Hill, 30, and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, 41, who was arrested in Chicago, according to FBI officials. The indictment is charged Al-Arian with racketeering and providing material support for terrorism and conspiracy, among other things.
Also named
in the indictment are the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Ramadan Abdullah
Shallah, who once headed up a think tank at USF with which Al-Arian was involved.
Abdel Aziz-Odeh, a former spiritual leader of the PIJ, is also expected to
be named in the indictment. Aziz-Odeh and Shallah are not believed to be in
the United States.
In announcing the indictment, Attorney General John
Ashcroft said the eight supported numerous violent terrorist
activities.
"Our message to them and to others like them
is clear: We
make no distinction between those who carry out terrorist
attacks and those who knowingly finance, manage or supervise
terrorist organizations,'' he said.
The indictment charges the eight
men with operating a
criminal racketeering enterprise since 1984 that supported
Palestinian Islamic Jihad and with conspiracy to kill and
maim people abroad, conspiracy to provide material support to
the group, extortion, perjury and other charges.
Each defendant faces
up to life in prison if convicted.
Al-Arian, a tenured computer engineering professor, is no stranger to federal scrutiny.
The Kuwaiti-born professor was the focus of a federal investigation in the mid 1990s, when agents suspected that an Islamic think tank he operated at USF was a front for Middle Eastern terrorists. The accusation arose after Shallah, a former head of the think tank, left Tampa in 1995 and soon resurfaced as the head of PIJ, a terrorist organization.
Al-Arian also was accused of raising money for Palestinian groups with ties to terrorism. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he made fiery speeches that denounced Israel, including one in which he said: "Victory to Islam. Death to Israel."
Al-Arian, who applied for U.S. citizenship several years ago, was never charged with a crime. But the FBI never announced that its investigation was closed.
Al-Arian's recent problems began last fall after his alleged ties to terrorists were aired on national television. That created a firestorm for USF, which said it received hate mail and several death threats.
Al-Arian was immediately suspended with pay and banned from campus. In December, after a 12-1 vote for dismissal by USF's board of trustees, Genshaft notified Al-Arian that she intended to fire him.
Last February, in an unusual move, federal authorities announced that Al-Arian remained under investigation but would not elaborate. Genshaft said today that she would wait to learn more about the arrest before making any decisions.
Al-Arian has repeatedly denied any connection to terrorist activities or providing any funds to carry out terrorist plots. His brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, also taught at the university.
He spent more than 3 1/2 years in jail on secret evidence linking him to terrorists. He was released in 2000 but arrested again in November 2001 and deported last August.
Associated Press material was used in this story
Further coverage in Friday's St. Petersburg
Times
Updates from AP
Al-Arian Timeline
1975
Sami Al-Arian, born in Kuwait and educated in Egypt,
becomes permanent U.S. resident.
Dec. 1981
Al-Arian's brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, enters United States from Gaza on a student visa and studies for his master's degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro.
1986
Al-Arian becomes an assistant professor at the University
of South Florida after earning an engineering
doctorate in North Carolina. In June, Al-Najjar also
moves to Tampa to earn a doctorate in engineering at
USF.
Oct. 1988
Sami Al-Arian starts the Islamic Committee for Palestine, or ICP, to
support Palestinian causes.
1990
Academic Khalil Shikaki becomes first director of the
World and Islam Studies Enterprise, or WISE, a think
tank also founded by Al-Arian.
1991
Ramadan Abdullah Shallah joines WISE as a researcher and expert
on Middle East economics.
Summer 1994
A sample issue of WISE's journal, Political Readings.
May 1995
Relying heavily on the documentary Jihad in America, the Tampa Tribune
publishes two-part story
linking WISE, ICP, Al-Arian and Mazen Al-Najjar to
fundraising and politicking for terrorist groups.
June 1995
USF administrators meet with concerned citizens
and professors about the allegations of terrorist ties
and suspend the college's agreement to work with
WISE on conferences.
Oct. 1995
Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, recently a USF teacher
and the administrator of WISE, is named new leader
of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Damascus, Syria.
April 1996
USF holds exams a week early after receiving a bomb threat, and a 19-year-old student, Damian Hospital, later gets five years' probation and court-ordered counseling for the crime.
May 1997
Mazen Al-Najjar is arrested and jailed after he and his
wife are ordered deported for overstaying visas. To
keep him detained, the government introduces secret evidence that he
is a threat. The legal fight will
continue for the next five years.
Sept. 26, 2001
Al-Arian appears on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and is questioned about his alleged ties to terrorism. The next day, USF receives angry phone calls and e-mails, and shuts down an engineering building for part of the day.
Sept. 28, 2001
USF puts Al-Arian on paid leave for security reasons.
Dec. 18, 2001
USF lawyer determines that Al-Arian can be fired for
disrupting the university.
Dec. 19, 2001
USF Board of Trustees votes 12-1 to recommend that Al-Arian be fired. USF president Judy Genshaft announces her intention to fire him but later says she will wait to make a final decision.
Jan. 9, 2002
USF Faculty Senate votes not to support the trustees'
decision to fire Al-Arian.
Feb. 21, 2002
Federal prosecutors announce they are conducting
an ongoing investigation ""into the conduct and activities'' of
Al-Arian.
June 8, 2002
The American Association of University Professors
threatens to censure USF if the school fires Al-Arian.
Aug. 21, 2002
Genshaft announces the school will ask a judge
whether he can be fired.
Aug. 22, 2002
Mazen Al-Najjar is placed on a chartered plane in the
custody of U.S. officials to be flown to Bahrain. The
Persian Gulf country refuses to allow the plane to
land. After a stop in Ireland and Italy, Al-Najjar is later
taken to Lebanon.
Dec. 16, 2002
U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew throws out the
USF lawsuit, writing that the case "would not be a
wise and practical use of judicial resources.'' She said
that arbitration between Al-Arian and USF should
take place under the school's collective bargaining
agreement.
Jan. 15, 2003
USF decides not to appeal Bucklew's ruling.
Jan. 24, 2003
Al-Arian has a grievance meeting with USF officials.
Feb. 5, 2003
Al-Najjar is reunited with his wife, Fedaa, and their three daughters
in an unnamed "U.S. friendly Arab
country.''
Feb. 20, 2003
Al-Arian is arrested at his home in Temple Terrace
and accused of being the North American leader of
Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
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